Black History Month raises big questions

Cal Maritime will be hosting Black History Month events until the end of February, but perhaps Saturday packed the biggest punch.

Prominent civil rights attorney John Burris, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Zahra Billoo, and Maritime Academy Police Department Chief Donny Gordon were all on hand to field questions from the audience as part of a Know Your Rights panel on law enforcement and social justice.

The theme of the month’s series is “Passion, perseverance, and pride” — attributes each speaker has. Burris has been involved with prominent moments like the Rodney King and Oscar Grant cases, and he continues to advocate for all marginalized people, such as those with disabilities. Billoo also has a long pedigree, and she recently sued President Trump during his first attempt at a travel ban that many see as aimed at Muslims. Gordon has been involved in law enforcement for decades and brought his wealth of experience to the discussion as well.

A range of topics were covered, yet the discussion still managed to stick to concrete approaches to social change.

One person brought up the question of police accountability, and how to prevent tragedies like innocent people losing their lives to officers’ bullets. Should there be more training to become an officer?

Everyone on the panel agreed that more training and preparation should go into being a police officer, and an emphasis should be placed on de-escalating situations. Chief Gordon made an interesting point about where the real training for police happens. For him, a lot can be learned in the jails.

“Jail makes you solution-based, after you strip away weapons and other tools,” he said.

Skilled authorities that work in the jails are adept at de-escalating things and listening to people in order to solve problems, he said.

Burris, who has made a career of defending people who have been the victim of overzealous police officers, concurred that much more can be done on the side of law enforcement, but he also acknowledged the fact that we still live in a time when people of color have to be very careful to do what officers ask. “Don’t reach under you seat, don’t go get something from the glove compartment ...”

Billoo pointed out that bad things can still happen to you if you do everything “right,” such as the case of Philando Castile, who was shot as a passenger in a car in 2016 despite having his hands in full view and telling the officer that he had a legal gun in the car.

All of this led to the question of what comes first — social change, or laws? Is a groundswell needed to improve not only laws but the punishment of officers that transgress them?

Burris pointed out that many laws have been changed in an effort to improve civil rights, but they can still be eroded once they are in place. He brought up the Voting Rights Act, which has recently been challenged again. “You gotta keep swingin’,” said Burris, referring to young people not falling into complacency about their rights.

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For now, Burris said that prosecuting officers that unfairly kill people in the line of duty can be “fool’s gold,” because it’s not a good way to get justice or civil redress. It often fails to end with a conviction. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop trying, he said.

A woman in the audience lamented what she sees as an increase in police brutality and also lawlessness among young people, but Burris assured her that both have always been there — we just see more of it now with cellphone footage and the like.

Still, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”